AirClad: a home you can take with you

Often dubbed ‘bubble-techture’, this new form of inflationary architecture is rapidly making a name for itself as a quirky potential alternative to more traditional prefab structures.

Airclad is the next generation of semi-permanent and permanent architectural buildings developed by English design team Inflate.

With AirClad, Inflate wanted to take their experience with inflatable building a step further and create a more solid platform that can be used as the basis to customize the interior to suit an individual brief. The AirClad system is also easy to transport and erect. It is fully de-mountable and reusable and requires no need for intrusive concrete foundations.

The AirClad system in its simplest form is a structural skeleton with air inflated PVC panels cladding it. The skeleton forms a monoquoque structure with the inflated cladding. The inflated panels offer insulation and structural properties to the finished building and especially allow for a new architectural aesthetic to be achieved. AirClad is a sealed pressure-regulated system using very little energy to keep the whole structure in working order.

The inflatable pool house seen here is more than 10 metres long and made from an opaque and solar-reflective PVC which can be customized in a range of colors, or remain a more subtle white.